Are mobile phones part of the chain of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital settings?

• Published in: Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo
• Main Authors: Evelyn Patricia Sánchez Espinoza, Marina Farrel Cortes, Saidy Vasconez Noguera, Anderson Vicente de Paula, Thais Guimarães, Lucy Santos Villas Boas, Marcelo Park, Cristina Carvalho da Silva, Ingra Morales, Lauro Vieira Perdigão Neto, Tania Regina Tozetto-Mendoza, Icaro Boszczowski, Ester Cerdeira Sabino, Maria Cássia Mendes-Correa, Anna Sara Levin, Silvia Figueiredo Costa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo (USP) 2021
• Subjects: SARS-CoV-2 hospital cross-contamination; Healthcare workers’ mobile phones; SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-9946202163074; https://doaj.org/article/ecf2aaecab8a472c962194d0da82872b

ABSTRACT Mobile phones (MPs) have become an important work tool around the world including in hospitals. We evaluated whether SARS-CoV-2 can remain on the surface of MPs of first-line healthcare workers (HCW) and also the knowledge of HCWs about SARS-CoV-2 cross-transmission and conceptions on the virus survival on the MPs of HCWs. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of a teaching hospital. An educational campaign was carried out on cross-transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and its permanence in fomites, in addition to the proper use and disinfection of MPs. Herewith an electronic questionnaire was applied including queried conceptions about hand hygiene and care with MP before and after the pandemic. The MPs were swabbed with a nylon FLOQ Swab™, in an attempt to increase the recovery of SARS-CoV-2. All MP swab samples were subjected to SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR; RT-PCR positive samples were subjected to viral culture in Vero cells (ATCC® CCL-81™). Fifty-one MPs were swabbed and a questionnaire on hand hygiene and the use and disinfection of MP was applied after an educational campaign. Most HCWs increased adherence to hand hygiene and MP disinfection during the pandemic. Fifty-one MP swabs were collected and two were positive by RT-PCR (4%), with Cycle threshold (Ct ) values of 34-36, however, the cultures of these samples were negative. Although most HCWs believed in the importance of cross-transmission and increased adherence to hand hygiene and disinfection of MP during the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in MPs. Our results suggest the need for a universal policy in infection control guidelines on how to care for electronic devices in hospital settings.